Fielding warns Telstra on stalling

The Rudd government has gained ground in its quest to restructure
Telstra
after Family First senator
Steve Fielding
said he might back the plan if the company was stalling on a commercial deal with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.

The comments throw open the upper house manoeuvring in the next few days to decide Senator Conroy’s bill to split Telstra in two and encourage it to sell its core assets to his National Broadband Network company.

Senator Fielding also rejected talk within Parliament House that he is using his crucial vote on the Telstra reforms to improve his chances at this year’s federal election by securing preferences from one of the major parties.

Labor and coalition sources said their preferences could make or break the Family First campaign to gain another six years in the upper house, while some on the government side indicated a deal with the minor party was highly unlikely.

Senator Fielding said there was no connection between the Telstra vote and a preferences deal and said his voting record showed he took a balanced position.

Rejecting assumptions that he had made up his mind to vote against the government bill on Monday or Tuesday, he expressed new concerns after getting a briefing from NBN chief executive Mike Quigley on Thursday.

Senator Fielding said if there was any evidence Telstra was stalling in its talks with the government, he would change his position – that it was better to delay the bill if there was a chance of a commercial deal.

“If I find that the negotiations aren’t progressing as they should, you’d have to think about other factors that might help them progress," he said.

Related Quotes

Company Profile

Telstra’s rivals have told senators that the best way to get negotiations going would be to pass the law, removing the incentive for Telstra to delay the outcome.

“How much time should be spent on those negotiations? Well, it’s a very big deal," he said. “My feeling is that it’s possibly too early [to decide the bill] and I’m genuinely talking to people to get a feeling for what’s going on.

“I don’t believe the negotiations can go on forever and I don’t like people stalling. I’m not saying that’s happening," he said.

While he warned against delaying tactics, he said his meeting with Mr Quigley indicated that the talks were going well.

“He didn’t indicate to me they were stalled. So I don’t think that plays into the government’s argument that we urgently need the legislation to move the negotiations along," he said.

But he expressed frustration that the minister could not tell him where the negotiations were up to.

The coalition needs the support of only one other senator, most likely Senator Fielding, to tie the vote at 38:38. Tied votes are lost in the upper house.

“I don’t think either party could say I’m aligned with either of them," Senator Fielding said.

He voted for the economic stimulus and its industrial relations laws – but sided against it on climate change and private health insurance.